James’ Fourth Letter to the Church
In this chapter James is teaching that humility and friendship with God will draw you closer to Him. When you are close to God you have Spirit-led desires. However, without this humility and a Spirit-filled view of how your life should be lived, you are full of the desire to have more to consume for your own lust. Simply put, when you allow the lusts of the flesh to control you, then you become a lover of the world and an enemy of God.
James teaches how we are to treat one another in the church. And how to make plans for the future.
Submit Yourself To God
James 4:1, “From whence come wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in you members?”
James is talking of war, and it may have actually been a physical war, but I believe he is talking about a spiritual war. The same war that Paul wrote about in Romans 7:14-24.
James 4:2-3, “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
It is a craving for pleasure and an insatiable desire to gratify one’s own lust, that causes greed to become such a serious issue in our lives. James spends considerable effort and time in identifying its deadly cause and addressing its much-needed cure. James points out that the sin of covetousness is so powerful that he allies its fruit with murder, which is rooted in anger, envy, bitterness, malice, cruelty, savagery, inhumanity, and greed.
When the covetous self is determined to have its own way, it often translates into hidden manipulation and evil actions which can even bring one not to pray at all, or to pray with wrong motives. But God does not recognize prayer that is birthed in an envious heart nor is He influenced by our petulant pleas to satisfy our own fleshly cravings.
James 4:4, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity of God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
Enmity is animosity, the state of being actively opposed to someone. To cling to the world is to choose enmity with God.
When we live as the world teaches, we do whatever it takes to get the things we desire. We are taught to fight, physically if needed, to get what we want. We are taught to make ourselves happy. When we live and act as same as the world does, this means we are friends with the world.
When we follow after God’s wisdom, we trust God to provide all the good we need. And because we trust His love and goodness and power to provide, we won’t abuse one another to get what we want. Instead, we will obey and follow God. This means we will serve one another and meet each other’s needs. This means we are a friend of God.
James is clear: Christians who choose to continue to live according to the wisdom of the world, driven by envy and ambition, seeking what they want above all else, are not living as friends of God. They are living in adultery as God’s enemies.
A common biblical metaphor for spiritual unfaithfulness in our relationship with God is adultery (Jeremiah 3:20; Isaiah 57:8; Ezekiel 16:30). Nowhere is this imagery more evident than in the book of Hosea (Hosea 2:1-23).
James 4:5, “Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?”
I’m not sure about verse 5, but I suppose James could be asking the question, “Do you think that the scripture is speaking to no purpose, when it says that the human spirit that dwells in us lust to envy?”
The spirit of man, our human nature, has intense longings, and without an active Spirit-filled life it will turn to selfish envy. James has been teaching Christians to follow wisdom from above and not wisdom from below (the world). He explained that the source of their fighting and greed was their self-reliance on worldly wisdom. They were coveting in their hearts, spiritually fighting with God and others, and praying with selfish motives. James is reminding them that their problem of envy is not a new thing - we have read in scripture (the OT) that God’s people in the past lusted after evil, and we also read what happened to those that lusted (1 Corinthians 10:1-11). These scriptures in the OT were written for our learning, so that we can learn from their mistakes and not repeat them (Romans 15:4). James is asking, “Do you think the scriptures serve no purpose?”
James 4:6, “But He giveth more grace, Wherefore He saith, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
God will resist the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Psalm 138:6; Proverbs 29:23; Isaiah 57:15; Matthew 23:12)
But, God gives more grace (Proverbs 3:34). God’s grace is able to overcome unfaithfulness.
God resist the proud, but gives grace to those that humble themselves and repent. When one realizes they have been unfaithful to God, they can repent and restore their relationship with God.
That’s what God’s grace does (John 1:16-17).
James 4:7-10, “Submit yourselves therefore to God, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh unto God, and He will draw nigh unto you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.”
James issued ten commands needed to resolve the conflict within the church and its members. The theme here is repentance and forgiveness.
(1) Submit yourself to God, (2) resist the devil, and he will flee from you!
(3) Draw closer to God and He will draw closer to you!
Mourning over our sin is right (Psalm 51:17). Sinners and the double-minded are told to (4)seek cleansing and “(5) be afflicted, (6) mourn, and (7) weep, (8) change your laughter into mourning and (9) your joy to heaviness.” Mourning is a part of repentance. We mourn over our sins or mistakes. We mourn for the purity of heart we once enjoyed. Mourning, although painful, can help re-align our hearts with the heart of God (Matthew 5:4). It is good that we are afflicted so that we can learn God’s ways (Psalm 119:71).
(10) Humble yourself in His sight and He shall lift you up! True humility is the key to having forgiveness from God as well as reconciliation with Him and the church.
Judging One Another
James 4:11-12, “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?”
When we speak evil (slander, gossip, or find fault) of a brother or sister, we are basically judging (condemning) them. I must resist the temptation to criticize and find fault with the members of my church family. They have a Judge and it is not me.
James states that the one who judges a brother or sister, is also speaking evil of and judging the law. The law spoken of here is the “royal law” (James 2:8), which is based on love. In other words, we are judging God’s law where he commands us to: “love thy neighbor as thyself”. Meaning, we are no longer a doer of that law, but a judge of it.
Since the One who gave the law also judges according to it, there are never any grounds for evil speech directed towards another believer in Christ.
Plans For Tomorrow
James 4:13-16, “Go to now, ye that say, today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.”
The issue here is boastful speech that indicates arrogance. In a basic scenario, James is describing one who is making big plans to move their business to a certain city, stay a certain amount of time, buy and sell, and make a profit. What is wrong with this type of boasting? Who do you see missing in these plans? God.
Neglecting to entrust our hopes and plans to God and His counsel leads to arrogance and unbelief. The person who says such things intends to live their life their own way, by their own strength, and on their own terms. This is arrogance and it is foolish. Rejoicing in this kind of boasting is evil. How are we to know we will be here on the morrow? James compares our life to a vapor, it appears for just a little time, and then vanishes away. Only God knows the number of our days.
If Jesus is really Lord of our life, we will see all things as coming from His hands and we should speak of plans and outcomes accordingly. We should then say, “If the Lord will, we will live, and do this or that.”
James 4:17, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
Simply put, every person is called to do the right thing. In this context, the right thing to do is the will of God, and live life as one who is dependent on Him. The only way to know the right thing to do, that which is God’s commanded will is found in Scripture. Therefore, one must be in the Word of God continuously, not simply to study and learn it, but to apply it to daily living (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Therefore, to those that know to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin.
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